Exploration of the Mechanism of Lianhua Qingwen in Treating Influenza Virus Pneumonia and New Coronavirus Pneumonia with the Concept of “Different Diseases with the Same Treatment” Based on Network Pharmacology

Abstract

The 31 main components of Lianhua Qingwen (LHQW) were obtained through a literature and database search; the components included glycyrrhizic acid, emodin, chlorogenic acid, isophoroside A, forsythia, menthol, luteolin, quercetin, and rutin. Sixty-eight common targets for the treatment of novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) and influenza virus pneumonia (IVP) were also obtained. A “component-target-disease” network was constructed with Cytoscape 3.2.1 software, and 20 key targets, such as cyclooxygenase2 (COX2), interleukin-6 (IL-6), mitogen-activated protein kinase14 (Mapk14), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF), were screened from the network. The David database was used to perform a Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) signal pathway enrichment analysis and gene ontology (GO) biological process enrichment. Results showed that the key targets of LHQW in the treatment of NCP and IVP mainly involved biological processes, such as immune system process intervention, cell proliferation, apoptosis and invasion, toxic metabolism, cytokine activity, and regulation of the synthesis process. KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that 115 signalling pathways were related to the treatment of LHQW. Amongst them, IL-17, T cell receptor, Th17 cell differentiation, TNF, toll-like receptor, MAPK, apoptosis, and seven other signalling pathways were closely related to the occurrence and development of NCP and IVP. Molecular docking showed that each component had different degrees of binding with six targets, namely, 3C-like protease (3CL), angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), COX2, hemagglutinin (HA), IL-6, and neuraminidase (NA). Rutin, isoforsythiaside A, hesperidin and isochlorogenic acid B were the best components for docking with the six core targets. The first five components with the best docking results were isoforsythiaside, hesperidin, isochlorogenic acid B, forsythin E, and quercetin. In conclusion, LHQW has many components, targets, and pathways. The findings of this work can provide an important theoretical basis for determining the mechanism of LHQW in treating NCP and IVP.

Inflammation in Preeclampsia: Genetic Biomarkers, Mechanisms, and Therapeutic Strategies

“…It is generally accepted that the lower the binding of the small molecule ligand to the receptor, the greater the interaction and the greater the potential activity of the component. The binding affinity that is less than -5 kcal/mol indicates spontaneous binding between the small ligand molecule and the receptor protein, while the binding affinity that is less than -7.0 kcal/mol indicates the good binding activity of the ligand to the receptor ( 22 ). According to the molecular docking results ( Table 2 ), we found that the binding affinity between aspirin and TPBG-4cnc, OPRK1-4djh, and RELA-3qxy was less than −5 kcal/mol, indicating that they have certain binding activity.…”

Intestinal microbiota analysis and network pharmacology reveal the mechanism by which Lianhua Qingwen capsule improves the immune function of mice infected with influenza A virus

“…It reveals the relationship between the gut microbiota, intestinal mucosal barrier, and viral pneumonia, and part of the mechanisms of LHQW in the treatment of viral pneumonia. The LHQW capsule, a traditional Chinese medicine compound, has 13 traditional Chinese medicines and many action targets, such as Akt1, P53, Cox-2, and TLR4 (Xia et al, 2020;Su et al, 2022), and has unique advantages in the treatment of influenza virus infection. Formula composition: forsythia suspensa 225 g, honeysuckle 255 g, isatis root 255 g, bitter almond 85 g, menthol 7.5 g, houttuynia cordata 255 g, rhubarb 51 g, patchouli 85 g, Male Fern Rhizome 255 g, Rhodiolae Herba 85 g, Ephedra equisetifolia 85 g, licorice 85 g, gypsum 255 g. Studies have confirmed that the main active ingredients of LHQW are chlorogenic acid, ursolic acid, rutin, luteolin, and quercetin, which exhibit antibacterial activities (Niu et al, 2021;Yang et al, 2021;Zhou et al, 2021).…”

“…LHQW, combined with routine treatment, can be used as synergistic therapy to significantly improve symptoms and reduce the mortality rate of critically ill patients (Wu et al, 2021;Yang et al, 2021). Animal experiments have also confirmed that LHQW can reduce the viral load in the lungs of mice with viral pneumonia, reduce the expression of inflammatory factors in the lungs, and improve lung injury (Xia et al, 2020;Su et al, 2022). It is well known that viral clearance in the lung depends mainly on lymphocytes and macrophages (Bedi et al, 2022;Cammann et al, 2022;Harris and Borg, 2022;McGee et al, 2022;Verma et al, 2022;Wei et al, 2022;Zhang H. et al, 2022;Zhang M. et al, 2022); however, the present findings do not clarify how LHQW reduces the viral load in the lung and improves lung injury with viral pneumonia.…”

Discovery of potential quality markers of Fritillariae thunbergii bulbus in pneumonia by combining UPLC-QTOF-MS, network pharmacology, and molecular docking

“…Results were exported in tab-separated value (TSV) format, and the unconnected targets were filtered out. Subsequently, visualization of the PPI data was constructed in Cytoscape 3.9.1 [ 26 ]. The topology parameters of the network were analyzed using the Network Analyzer function in Cytoscape 3.9.1.…”